Rhode Island Feeds

Our trip to Amsterdam was a great success. We previewed a new product line, and we expect to be building a good number of them up at the factory. As you can see from the photo, it’s an industrial design / high fit-and-finish approach that puts us in a league by ourselves. And all that glossy, shiny stuff comes from New England shops. Only the wood, the transducers and the few electronic sub-assemblies come from overseas – most of it from Europe. The “value” is added in Whitinsville, MA.

It was my first trip to Holland, and it left some strong impressions on me. The following are just random observations of what I encountered. As you’ll see, everything and everywhere has it’s pros and cons.

You Cannot Imagine How Many Bicycles There Are

Seriously, no matter where you’ve been – even China – you’ve never seen a greater concentration of bicycles than in Amsterdam. There are great piles of them. At the Central Station, there is a multi-story parking facility just for bikes. And it’s jammed full.

Almost all the bikes are the same – single-speed, upright style. This is because the city is dead flat with canals creating great arcs that reach more than a mile in from The Dam.

The record-setting cold was no impediment to the cyclists. You see them at all hours of the day and night pedaling along with no gloves and no hats. Bicycle helmets are unknown.

The bike lanes are all over – in the street, on the sidewalk, in separated areas – and it’s easy to find yourself accidentally walking in one of them. Big. Mistake. Bike lanes also carry scooter traffic. More than once I found myself leaping for the safety of the pedestrian zone.

It’s Not Particularly Clean

I was struck by the high amount of litter in Amsterdam. There are lots of public trash receptacles, but they’re not always used. Trash collection itself is just bags and piles left on the sidewalk. And I didn’t see a pattern of which neighborhoods got trash collected which days. It seems like they just put the stuff out whenever they feel like it.

Since so many people smoke, there are cigarette butts all over the place. Perhaps it was that I was there during a particularly cold and windy period, but newspapers were also blowing all over the place. Food waste didn’t get any special treatment, either, and I’m somewhat surprised that they don’t have a serious problem with rats.

It’s More Diverse Than You Might Expect

The ethnic make up seemed more-or-less in line with what you’d see in the US. Many Middle Eastern, North African and sub-Saharan faces, and in a range of places. Tram conductors and drivers, fork-lift operators, shop keepers, cabbies all showed that it’s not just Whitey over there. Or, um, Van Whitey, I suppose.

In my scant non-sleeping downtime, I managed to find two different hipster neighborhoods. In the one with the restaurants, we found an excellent place that served Turkish and Iranian fare. Tiles for the interior were commissioned out of Iran, and the ones in the men’s room are to die for.

The Dutch seem to have a predilection for Argentinean stake houses, although the one we went to in a tourist district was nothing special and highly overpriced. They also have a lot of Indonesian Restaurants, but I didn’t get the opportunity to go.

It’s 24/7…NOT

What we do at these tradeshows essentially amounts to theatrical production, so you find that you need this or that and you need it NOW! Holland is not a good place to find yourself in this situation. Most shops – and I mean coffee houses, convenience stores, etc. – open at 9am and close at 6pm. Some of them push the envelope and open at 8am.

There’s one place – ONE – that opens at 7am, and that is such a big deal there that the name of the shop is “At 7″. Want to get a pack of smokes at 2am? You’re out of luck.

They Like Being Dutch

It should come as no surprise that the Dutch think that being Dutch is awesome. Most cultures think well of themselves. They’re not too keen on remonstrations from pompous travelers from the US who are shocked and annoyed that no hardware stores will be open on Sunday and that if you want a coffee at 5:30am, you had damn well better have a percolator in your hotel room.

My colleague and I actually got the double-scolding of “tisk-tisk-tisk” PLUS the finger wag for bringing to-go coffees onto the tram.

It’s Good to Be Home

On balance, I could live in Amsterdam – I’d just have to up my planning to ensure that I have everything I need for the overnight and Sunday shutdown periods. I’d bike – like them – in the cold and rain and snow. I’d shop the open air stalls on the Albert Cuypstraat.

But it’s always great to come home to everything that’s familiar. As we say in my family: Home is the place that, when you have to go there, they have to let you in.

One of the more reprehensible things that conservatives have come out with of late is the idea of the ‘lucky duckies.’

This is what the Wall St Journal’s op-ed page called those of our society who are ‘fortunate’  enough to make such a low salary that they don’t have to pay fed income taxes.

This is truly verging (has crossed into?) Newspeak. You know, 1984–war is peace, freedom is slavery etc…)

In most people’s minds, getting stuck in a job that makes you $20k a year is the opposite of  ’fortunate’.  And if those WSJ writers think these folks are so lucky, all they have to do is quit their cushy office job and stand on their feet 8 hours a day flipping burgers.

Lucky duckies, indeed.

[ Pre-emptive strike: the idea is that these people have no 'skin in the game', so they don't care about tax rates because it's so hard to make ends meet on $250k per year,  yadda yadda.  Utter nonsense.  Give me the $250k, I'll pay the 39% tax rate from the Clinton years, and still be waaaaaaayyyyy ahead of where I am now.  And so would most of you reading this. ]

So far, this has been standard class warfare stuff as waged by the 1%. True, people in the bottom half don’t make enough to pay fed taxes.  Think about that: almost half the country, by conservatives own reckoning, don’t make enough to pay fed taxes. Is the problem that their a) tax rate is too low;  or, b) that their salary is too low?

If you’re a conservative, the answer cannot be (a), because tax rates are NEVER low enough.

And yet, that’s what they’re saying. That tax rates on the bottom half of the country have to go UP. While tax rates on the top 1% have to go DOWN.  Talk about internally inconsistent.

Or, it would be if they actually cared about being logical. Or consistent. They don’t. They only care about waging class warfare against everyone who’s not part of the 1%.

What truly takes this distortion to another level, and makes it reprehensible is the way it looks at a tiny sliver of the situation, cherry-picks what suits their cause, then ignores the rest.

The fact is, this lower 47% that pays no fed income tax, pays plenty of other taxes. Payroll tax, which is hugely regressive since it’s capped at around $100k (may be higher; it moves with inflation), sales taxes (also hugely regressive) excise taxes, state taxes, local taxes, and so on.

What happens when we factor all of these in?

Here’s the result:

This is a chart done by the Corporation for Enterprise Development. It shows what the total, overall tax rate is for all income quintiles by state.  It shows how much of their income the poorest 20% pays, vs how much of their income the top 1% pays in each state, then shows the ratio between the two.

The median state is Mississippi. The poorest 20% pay about 10.8% of their total income in taxes. The top 1%, OTOH, only pay 5.5% of their income.

In other words, the effective tax rate of the bottom 20% is about twice as high as the tax rate for the top%–despite paying no fed taxes.

And how does RI stack up? We’re worse.

Here, the bottom 20% pays about 11.9%, while the top 1% pays 5.5%.

In other words, the bottom 20% pays a rate that is more than twice the rate paid by the top 1%.

And Mass is two spots worse, CT is one spot better, so spare me the “Oh, I could just move to Mass and save all this money” lie.  And founder of a certain ‘alternative’ party, I’m looking at you.

What does this mean? The top end earners are not overtaxed. They have a great gig going. And if we elect someone named either Willard or Newt, it will only get better for them, and much, much worse for the rest of us.

Lucky duckies, indeed.

Cities and towns across Rhode Island have faced financial hardship over the last several years. Cities have been devastated by the economic crisis, which itself was caused by a complete lack of oversight on Wall Street, oversight that even today Republicans are fighting tooth and nail. They even oppose the idea of having an agency whose job it is to protect consumers and prevent such a collapse from ever happening again.

Now comes a Congressional candidate who has called for the capital gains tax to be dropped to zero, a policy that would mean his endorsed presidential candidate, Mitt Romney, would pay not a dime in income taxes. So, it was surprising to see Carcieri protégé and Romney supporter Brendan Doherty weigh in on the current Providence budget crisis by calling for “tax fairness.” Sound fair to you? He has even argued for slashing corporate tax rates from 35% to 22%. That’s right, Doherty has called for corporate taxes to be even lower than proposed in the Paul Ryan budget plan that the Tax Policy Center estimates would cost taxpayers almost a trillion dollars over the next decade.

While Doherty is running on a platform of trickle-down economic policies that helped create the economic crisis which so weakened municipalities, he makes no mention of the need to scale back the outrageous COLAs given away in the 1990s. Nor did he acknowledge the role his mentor and major fundraiser, former Governor Carcieri, played in slashing aid to cities and towns, shifting the burden to local communities while still leaving the state with a huge budget shortfall.

Doherty has shown a lack of understanding of what has really been happening to cities and towns across Rhode Island and his plans of more big giveaways to corporations and millionaires and billionaires is exactly the wrong approach to get our state and country back on track.

Doherty has been quick to dismiss any critique of his far-right policies as partisan rhetoric but the fact is that policy differences matter. Doherty supports the same economic proposals as Carcieri and Romney that have done so much damage to our local and national economies. This upcoming election will offer voters a choice as to whether they want to send someone to Washington who will side with the wealthiest Americans and corporations or whether they want a representative who will stand up for the interests of seniors, students, small businesses and the middle class.

 

Dear Attorney General Kilmartin,

Hold Wall Street Accountable for its Fraud

The rule of law must be applied equally to all people. Yet, the most massive organized crime spree in history has not only gone unpunished, but has actually been rewarded with trillions of dollars of bailouts and interest free loans to the criminals responsible. In order to re-establish trust in our political and economic systems, justice must be served.

Throughout the housing bubble era and its disastrous unwind, Wall Street committed fraud upon fraud against the American public and indeed the whole world. From the fraudulent origination of subprime mortgages; to the establisment of the Mortgage Electronic Registry System (MERS) to bypass the land registry system; to the illegitimate pooling and servicing agreements in the securitization process; to the false credit ratings then given to the consequent Mortgage Backed Securities and their derivatives; and finally to the illegal forclosures attained by robosigning false notes and affidavits; the whole process was and is criminal.

We, the people of Rhode Island, ask you, Attorney General Kilmartin, to not let these crimes go unpunished. Join other states like New York, Massachusetts, and Nevada in prosecuting Wall Street for mortgage fraud, and don’t sign on to any mortgage settlement that absolves the criminals of their responsibility.

Sign the petition here.

“The Inconvenient Truth Behind Waiting For “Superman”” highlights the real-life experiences of public school parents, students and educators to show how these so-called reforms are actually hurting public education. The film discusses the kinds of real reform – inside schools and in our society as a whole – that we urgently need to genuinely transform education in this country.

Sunday, February 5, 1pm at the Media Center at the Met, 325 Public St., Providence.

Join the Coalition to Defend Public Education for this film showing–and stick around for a discussion featuring special guest Brian Jones, co-narrator of the film! (via Skype)

Suggested donation: $5. Proceeds will be donated to the Grassroots Education Movement, the group that produced the film.

For information, call 401-400-0373 or email coalitiontodefendpubliced@gmail.com.

RSVP on Facebook

the adorable family of Councilwoman Matos, from her Facebook page

At the February 2nd meeting of the Providence City Council, Council President Michael Solomon (Ward Five) announced the creation of a new Women and Healthy Communities subcommittee of the Committee on Ordinances. Councilmembers Sabina Matos (Ward Fifteen), Carmen Castillo (Ward 9), David Salvatore (Ward 14), Seth Yurdin (Ward 1), and Samuel Zurier (Ward 2) were named as members of the subcommittee.

“The subcommittee on Women and Healthy Communities will take on issues affecting youth, families, seniors, and new residents, with a special focus on women and girls,” said Councilwoman Matos. “This is a fantastic opportunity to focus our attention on concerns that, all too often, are over-looked.”

The Council President explained that Providence was following the successful model of the Boston City Council, which established a similar committee in 2009. “I’m very proud that the Council has decided to create this subcommittee, which will serve as a new venue for discussions of how to best combat poverty, prevent violence, and stabilize our families and communities,” said Solomon.

The subcommittee will hold its organizational meeting in the coming weeks to elect a chairperson and vice-chairperson, and discuss upcoming agenda items.

GoLocalProv had this scoop!

Click here to check out my recent interview with Nuala Cabral and Denice Frohman of FAAN Mail, a Philadelphia-based media activist group that has launched a social media campaign (on Twitter, primarily, #WishiLearnedinHS), “Wished I Learned in High School,” in response to policies in Arizona restricting ethnic studies programs. Cabral is graduate of Moses Brown School in Providence, RI.

(PROVIDENCE, RI; PHILADELPHIA, PA; TUCSON, AZ) – When does learning about non-Europeans/non-Whites in the US constitute promoting resentment toward a race or class?

When does learning about the development of the US and manifest destiny and those who opposed such policies cross the line to become promoting the overthrow of the US government?

When did a class providing awareness about the societal and civic contributions of one of this country’s minority/ethnic groups become illegal?

These are some of the questions being asked by activists, students, and journalists all over the country, though the answer to number three might be more clear: it’s been over a year since the governor of Arizona signed into law House Bill 2281, “which prohibits a school district or charter school (in Arizona) from including in its program of instruction any courses or classes that promote the overthrow of the United States government, promote resentment toward a race or class of people, are designed primarily for pupils of a particular ethnic group, or advocate ethnic solidarity instead of the treatment of pupils as individuals.”

Yet it is recent events that have re-stirred up the questions, concerns, and heated debates on the topic: the final termination of the Mexican American Studies program in Tucson, Arizona – and the removal of corresponding books from Tucson schools that are now part of a list of banned literature.

Critics of the legislation say that the policies curtail teacher creativity, and call the law an attempt to further silence and marginalize people of color in a state becoming infamous for what many view as one anti-immigrant or anti-Brown policy after another.  Supporters of the state law – and the recent move by Tucson officials – cite the Mexican American Studies program as an example of a program that promotes one racial/ethnic group over all others, and say that programs like these promote a victimization mentality.

But critics aren’t buying it, and they’re not standing by quietly.  Two such activists are Nuala Cabral and Denice Frohman of FAAN Mail (Fostering Activism and Alternatives Now!), www.faanmail.wordpress.com. FAAN Mail is a media literacy/media activism project formed by women of color to promote pro-active audiences and creative alternatives.

Cabral and Frohman are based in Philadelphia, MA, but they’re not letting geography stop their actions.  On the contrary, Cabral, Frohman and the FAAN Mail community have launched a social media campaign (on Twitter, primarily, #WishiLearnedinHS), “Wished I Learned in High School,” to collect and share stories from people who can speak to the benefits they’ve gained from Ethnic Studies programs and to the regrets they feel about not getting enough exposure to the stories of people of color, women, LGBT writers, and other voices in their K-12 years.

Cabral and Frohoman say they are outraged that racist/conservative ideology has prevailed over data on programs that have been proven to be effective for students of color (who are at more risk for dropping out), and bothered that what hasn’t been acknowledged is the idea that there are already preferential treatments built into the educational system – those that favor the stories, ideas, history and perspectives of wealthy, western, white men.

Click here to check out my audio podcast/interview with Cabral and Frohman, which was recorded and originally aired on Sonic Watermelons on bsrlive.com on Wednesday, February 1.  Click here to see a short video about some of the on-the-ground student and community organizing.

Or check out the links below to learn more about the FAAN Mail campaign and the Arizona saga.

• faanmail.wordpress.com/wishilearnedinhs-effort/
• en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethnic_studies
• www.thenation.com/blog/165989/challenging-arizonas-ban-ethnic-studies
• www.huffingtonpost.com/david-moshman/did-arizona-ban-ethnic-st_b_816713.html
• motherjones.com/mojo/2010/05/ethnic-studies-banned-arizona
• en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arizona_SB_1070

One of the first things I did in Providence, even before the boxes were unpacked, was fish Roger Williams Park. People are sometimes surprised to hear how many fish there are in the ponds… largemouth bass, bluegill, crappy, white perch, and carp (considered invasive but real fun to catch). The ponds are truly a treasure for the urban angler but have long been plagued by poor water quality. That’s why I was so excited to learn of the plan for a multiphase project to improve the ponds’ water quality, habitat, and biodiversity (lot’s of additional info here). Unfortunately, I learned of it just after the initial meeting last fall. In any case, I don’t plan to miss the next one:

2nd Public Meeting to Restore Roger Williams Park Ponds
Where:        Roger Williams Park Casino
When:        Tuesday, February 7th, at 7PM

 

The plan itself is comprised of the following phases:

Phase 1: “Best Management Practices,” Community Engagement and Restoration Design.
Included in this phase, shoreline planting, wetland construction and waterfowl control to reduce water pollution in the Park, as well as development of a plan and cost estimates for restoration of the entire ponds system.

Phase 2:  Full-scale Restoration
Included in this phase, further reductions of on-site pollution and reduction of off-site impacts, continued restoration of biodiversity including control of invasive fish (sorry carp anglers). Of particular importance in this phase will be the planning of ways to address upstream sources of pollution, the watersheds surrounding Mashapaug and Spectacle Ponds.

Phase 3:  Migratory Fish Restoration
Included in this phase, restoration of the stream continuity and migratory fish passage along Belafonte Brook (*love it*).

If you can’t make the meeting, volunteers can get involved by contacting the Narragansett Bay Estuary Program (NBEP).

The Providence Children’s Film Festival was founded in 2009 to bring high quality, independent and international children’s films, animation, and documentaries to New England, and to present them as shared theatrical experiences for the community. Programming includes live action, animation and documentaries, shorts and features, and films made by RI youth, including the films made in our festival workshops.  The festival committee looks especially for films with content that speaks positively to children and families of diverse ages, backgrounds and ethnicities.

Rhode Island’s first and only festival dedicated to children’s films returns to Providence for its 3rd year, February 16-21, 2012.  This year, there will be six days and three venues (Cable Car Cinema and Cafe, RISD Museum, and RISD Auditorium) filled with high-quality, independent and international films for children and youth between ages 3-18!  Advanced Ticket sales starting February 1, 2012. See website for details.

 

Secretary of State A. Ralph Mollis is honoring Joe Garrahy with an on-line tribute that includes photos of the late Governor with celebrities such as Jesse Jackson, Pope John Paul II and President Reagan as well as everyday Rhode Islanders like Boy Scout and Girl Scout troops.

“We could think of no better way to honor the Governor than to share his legacy with the state he served so admirably. We hope this reminds long-time Rhode Islanders of his achievements and introduces the younger generation to a man who was a role model for us all.”

Many of the items in the electronic photo album are also on display at the State Archives through the end of February. The exhibit is open to the public weekdays from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. at 337 Westminster St., in downtown Providence. Free validated parking is available at the nearby In-Town Parking lot.

In addition to hosting exhibits, the State Archives is also home to tens of thousands of historic artifacts such as the state’s copy of the Declaration of Independence, the 1920 law granting Rhode Island women the right to vote and a circa-1930 voting machine.

Original text:
You’re invited to a Community Meeting about the Providence Public Schools

Councilman Bryan Principe and Councilwoman Sabina Matos join Providence Schools Superintendent Dr. Susan F. Lusi in welcoming you to learn more about what’s new in the Providence Schools.

Families and community members from Wards 13 & 15, as well as other city residents whose children attend Carl G. Lauro, William D’Abate, Webster Avenue and Asa Messer Elementary Schools are encouraged to attend this community event.

Wednesday, February 1, 2012
6:30 p.m.
Asa Messer Elementary School
1655 Westminster Street

Meet Interim Superintendent Dr. Susan F. Lusi
Learn more about Providence Schools initiatives and the strategic outlook for the district
Learn how families can help support the vision of greater student achievement for all students
Hear how your City Council representatives are working with PPSD toward a better education for  all children

RSVP is requested but not required.
Call 456-0886 to respond.
Spanish translation services will be available.

* * *

Quedan invitados a una Reunión Comunitaria sobre las Escuelas Públicas de Providence

Los concejales Bryan Principe y Sabina Matos estarán junto a la Superintendente de Escuelas de Providence, la Dra. Susan F. Lusi dándole la bienvenida a conocer más sobre qué hay de nuevo en las escuelas.

Animamos a la asistencia de familias y miembros de la comunidad de los distritos 13 & 15 de la ciudad, al igual que a otros residentes cuyos niños(as) asisten a las escuelas Carl G. Lauro, William D’Abate, Webster Avenue y Asa Messer.  Este será un importante evento comunitario.

Miércoles, 1 de febrero, 2012
6:30 de la noche
Escuela Primaria Asa Messer,
1655 de la calle Westminster, en Providence

Conozca a la Superintendente, la Dra. Susan F. Lusi
Conozca más sobre las iniciativas en las escuelas y el plan estratégico para el distrito escolar
Entérese de cómo puede darnos su ayuda con la visión de aumentar los logros académicos de los estudiantes
Sepan cómo sus representantes en el concejo trabajan con PPSD para mejorar la educación de todos los estudiantes

Agradecemos sus reservaciones.
Llamen al 456-0886 hacer reservaciones.
Tendremos traducción al español disponible.

It is often bemoaned that candidates only talk about certain issues, only debate the same topics, and hardly ever disagree on anything of true substance.  “My economic package is better than yours.”  “I’m tougher on our enemies than the other guy.”  Blah, blah, blah.  When we consider that Obama, Bush, and McCain all agreed on (1) the Bailout of the banks, (2) hundreds of thousands of American soldiers patrolling multiple Middle Eastern nations, (3) the Patriot Act, (4) maintaining the Drug War, (5) paying mercenary armies like Blackwater, (6) appointing industry insiders to regulatory positions, (7) accepting billions of dollars in campaign donations, and so many other things…  what do they have left to disagree about??  The level of discrimination against gay people.  A few percentage points on the tax bill.

So the key to getting your issue on the map is to ask the candidate in public, with voters and media in the room.  Even if you are creating your own media, the key is to get them “on the record.”  Wait in line for the microphone and ask away.  Obviously this is easier to do in a local race than a big national one, but those interactions are going to have more impact anyway.  People need to see that the president is, in many ways, inconsequential because there is little difference between candidates.

Go look in the mirror and practice how to load up a question.  Here, try these on for size:

“With prison spending exceeding education spending, and legal discrimination against 200,000 people in our state due to their felony record, where they are barred from employment, where computers are deleting applications that reflect a felony record, where public housing is denying the reunification of families… do you think we should continue to use prisons as a solution for mental illness, homelessness, and substance abuse?  Or do you think we should find an alternative?”

 Check out the tactic of leading in with some facts.  Frame the question.  Make it so they must agree… in public at least.

“Considering that education is the oldest form of self-empowerment and the only known pathway for stability, not only for an individual but for a community, do you think prisoners and former prisoners should be allowed to get an education?”

Follow-up:  “And what do you say to the person who feels that a former prisoner’s education is taking a classroom seat away from someone who was not in prison, and more deserving?”

Who can be against education?

“In a society where defense attorneys are sometimes earning millions of dollars each year defending drug clients, do you find any conflict of interest for a legislator, who has ties to the defense attorneys through their own firm or their close associates, to make laws that create more clients?”

“With all the failed results from rehabilitation and re-entry programs designed without the input of those who have direct experience, do you think it is time to listen to former prisoners (those who are truly the primary stakeholder in rehabilitation) about what works and doesn’t work… or should we keep giving money to so-called experts and the politically connected entities?“

“Do you think people released from prison should be encouraged to get more involved in their community by voting, holding jobs, and raising their children… or should they be pushed into the shadows of an underclass where drugs and violence are essential for survival?”

Here’s one I have for Attorney General Eric Holder, who is coming to do a talk on voting at my law school.  Let’s see if he selects it, and answers….

“In Louisiana there are 66,000 people on probation and parole who cannot vote, and over 10% of New Orleans is barred from voting.  Considering as Felony Disenfranchisement laws have a disparate impact on People of Color, do you believe theJustice Department should consider enforcing Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act in states, such as Louisiana, that are covered under Section 5 of the Act?”

Film it, post it, share it.  Let the follow-ups begin, and let the candidates show their knowledge, intelligence, leadership, and compassion for all their constituents shine… or not.

What question would YOU ask?

Mayor Angel Taveras will induct three leaders whose actions have had a significant impact on the lives of Providence residents into the 2012 Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Hall of Fame on Wednesday, February 1 at 7 pm in the City Council Chambers at Providence City Hall.

Leo DiMaio, founder of the College Readiness program and the Talent Development program at the University of Rhode Island, the late Providence Councilman Miguel C. Luna, and the late community activist William “Billy” Taylor have been selected as the 2012 MLK Hall of Fame inductees.

They’re being honored for their demonstrated efforts to carry on the legacy of the late Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. by making substantial contributions to acceptance, social justice, civil rights and equality. Mayor Taveras selected the honorees from a list of nominees submitted to the Mayor by the Providence Human Relations Commission.

The recipients’ names will be permanently inscribed in a plaque in Providence City Hall. The program will also include a spoken word performance by Franny Choi of PrSYM and performances by John Britto, RPM Voices, and the Eastern Medicine Singers. There will also be an American Sign Language interpreter.

The last few years have been tough for our great Ocean State. Across Rhode Island, I’ve organized community dinners, main street tours, and coffee hours where I’ve heard firsthand from so many people struggling to find work, seniors worried about their Social Security and Medicare, families being crushed by unfair credit card rates, and students scared they are going to have to leave college because they can’t afford tuition. People are hurting and they are frustrated, but they aren’t giving up, and neither am I. I’ve listened and I’ve brought these stories with me to Washington, and it is my promise to you as your U.S. Senator that I will keep fighting to create jobs, protect essential benefits like Social Security and Medicare, and provide our kids with a brighter future.

OUR VOICE IN WASHINGTON                                        

Rhode Islanders sent Sheldon to the Senate to fight for us and against the big special interests – and that’s just what he has done. We know that we can count on Sheldon to support our priorities – creating jobs, protecting families, and ending special deals for billionaires and big corporations. Sheldon has led the fight against moves to severely cut Social Security, Medicare benefits, and Pell Grants because he knows how much we in Rhode Island count on these programs.  And he has opposed giving more tax breaks to billionaires and multinational corporations while middle class families continue to suffer.

SHELDON’S PLAN

Putting Rhode Islanders Back to Work.  Sheldon has fought hard for legislation to create jobs, support small businesses, and revitalize our manufacturing sector.

• Sheldon introduced legislation that would meet President Obama’s call in his State of the Union speech to eliminate the tax loopholes that reward companies who ship US jobs overseas.
• Sheldon helped pass a Senate bill to crack down on China’s currency manipulation that costs American jobs by making it more expensive for us to sell goods to China, and cheaper for China to sell things here.
• Sheldon is supporting legislation that could fund significant transportation improvements, such as repairing the I-95 viaduct in Providence, and provide new construction jobs in Rhode Island.
• Sheldon has proposed a measure to provide tax credits to small businesses who hire unemployed workers to make it easier for a business to add new jobs.

Protecting Medicare and Social Security for Rhode Island Seniors. Sheldon will always be committed to preserving Social Security and Medicare benefits, and will continue fighting to reduce the cost of prescription drugs for seniors.

• When Republicans in the House passed dangerous legislation to end Medicare as we know it, Sheldon helped lead the fight against that bill in the Senate.
• Sheldon helped ensure that the health care reform bill closed the “doughnut hole” for prescription drugs covered under Medicare. More than 10,000 Rhode Island seniors benefited from this discount in 2011, saving $5.5 million dollars.
• When budget negotiators threatened to pass new cuts to Social Security to reduce the deficit, Sheldon stepped up to protect that vital program and helped form the Senate’s Defend Social Security Caucus.

Getting a Straight Deal for Middle Class Families.  Sheldon has heard from so many Rhode Islanders who are frustrated with the special deals enjoyed by big corporations and billionaires.  He shares that frustration and is working to restore the “straight deal” that middle class Americans expect and deserve – ending tax giveaways to Big Oil, combating unfair credit card interest rates, making sure millionaires and billionaires pay their fair share in taxes, and putting a stop to unlimited and anonymous spending by big corporations in our elections.

Supporting Education.   Providing our children with a good education is the most important thing we can do to give them the opportunity to get the best jobs in the future.

• Sheldon is fighting to protect Pell Grants to make it easier for students to afford college. In 2009-2010, 19,937 Rhode Islanders received $69,567,944 in Pell Grants for an average of $3,489 per student.
• Sheldon has been working to extend the Elementary and Secondary Education Act to improve our nation’s middle schools by establishing a grant program to help fund reforms in struggling school systems.

Protecting our Environment and Coastal Economy.  In Rhode Island, the strength of our economy is strongly tied to the health of our environment.  Sheldon recognizes this, and is leading several bipartisan efforts to better protect our oceans and coasts – and the jobs they support.  He’s working with Senator Snowe (R-ME) to establish a National Endowment for the Oceans, collaborating with Senator Vitter (R-LA) to re-authorize the National Estuary Program, and is co-chairing the Senate Oceans Caucus with Senator Murkowski (R-AK).  Sheldon will continue fighting to advance these priorities in 2012.

Stay in Touch: whitehouse.senate.gov, facebook.com/SenatorWhitehouse, twitter.com/SenWhitehouse

The Women’s Health & Education Fund has announced that registration is now open for the 2012 Bowl-a-thon!  You can register by clicking here and selecting the register button on the top of the page!  It is quick and easy to sign up and invite your family and friends to do the same!

I had a great time last year and raised a few hundred dollars with my team “Grabbing Our Balls for Women.”

From WHEF:

Last year we reached our goal of $20,000 with the help of our amazing supporters like you, but this year we are aiming for $25,000.  I know that we will be able to reach our goal again this year!  Our event this year will be held on Sunday, April 29 from 2-5pm at Town Hall Lanes in Johnston, RI.

I would also like to announce that we will be hosting another Bowl-a-thon Kick-Off Party this year on Wednesday, February 29 from 6-8pm at DUSK Providence.  (301 Harris Ave, Providence, RI)

I look forward to seeing you at the kick-off party and the bowl-a-thon!

I suppose the aspect of conservative thought that most…puzzles? annoys? makes me laugh?…let’s say ‘puzzles’ me is the sense they seem to have that their ideas are somehow bold, and daring, and novel.

In fact, conservative ideas–low taxes, no regulation, no government–have all been tried. In fact, these ideas describe how government operated throughout most of human history.  And they certainly describe the government of the US for most of its history.

Newsflash: these ideas didn’t work. We tried them, they didn’t work.

Let’s take the whole free market thing. *

One caveat: I am not an economist; I have no training as an economist. I do spend a lot of time reading economics blogs. I have five or six that I read regularly, another dozen that I read once a week or so. Definitions presented will generally be from Wikipedia, so they will be easy to verify.

Generally speaking, a free market is, more or less, unregulated. The idea is that all of the players–buyers and sellers–jockey back and forth in a rough-and-tumble so that prices come to reflect the best value as determined by the ‘market’, and resources are allocated efficiently and optimally.

For a free market to work, one aspect that must happen is that there must be robust competition among both buyers and sellers.  Without robust competition, sometimes a buyer, more often a seller will gain a competitive advantage.  The theory is that the competition will grind this advantage away, by underselling, a better product, or some such mechanism.

Competition will do this, but only under certain conditions. Competition is effective whenever the barriers to entry into a market are reasonably low. For example, a lemonade stand. My kid can put one up in a few minutes, undersell the kid who’s charging a buck a cup, and take away the price gouger’s market share in a heartbeat.

But what happens when barriers to entry are high? What about a mine? Or an oil refinery? Or a steel mill? Or meat packing?

Enterprises like these require huge capital outlays over a sustained period before they can enter the market. When they are able to do so, they are usually at a competitive disadvantage on price, since their operation may not have the efficiencies of scale that the established concerns do. In situations where barriers to entry are high, the tendency is for the operator with the most money will eventually win.

This was the Walgreens strategy: put up a chain store to compete with the local pharmacy, undersell the local, drive it out of business, then raise prices. Walgreens could afford to lose money on a lot of items because it was financed by a corporate treasury. Now we are in a situation in which there are virtually no local/mom-and-pop pharmacies. We have our choice of CVS (yes, it’s local, but hardly mom-and-pop), Rite-Aid, and Walgreens. Competition, but not overly robust. I suspect that Walgreens will disappear within a decade.

Even more to the point. In downtown Providence, we used to have the corporate HQ for several banks. Now, we have a satellite office for a single bank, a huge national conglomerate, that may, apparently, be pulling out of Providence.

These results are not surprising. This is what happens in a free market. It’s exactly what happened the first time we had unregulated, free markets.

This occurred in the aftermath of the Civil War. The war provided a huge market for a lot of industrial products, so a lot of entrepreneurs took advantage and went into business to supply this market.  Within fifteen years (give or take), most of these small businesses had vanished, having been swallowed up, or driven out of business by huge, vertically-integrated corporations, known at the time as trusts.

Not all trusts were monopolies, but many of them were. They bought, crushed, or drowned their competitors in a bath tub. This was considered a good thing; Rockefeller trumpeted his intention to ‘end wasteful competition.’  Even if they never quite attained a true monopoly–and it wasn’t for lack of trying– they dominated their markets.

Given the direction in which we are going, it is very important to remember what has happened. Given the death of Brooks Pharmacy, and Fleet Bank, and Hospital Trust, we need to recognize the path we’re on.

An unregulated, free market will generally end up in a monopoly in any situation in which barriers to entry are high. And they are high in most industries, in finance,  even in a lot of retail operations.

And, just so there’s no doubt, below is evidence, demonstrating that our first experience with free markets ended up with most markets controlled by de facto monopolies. I don’t want it said that I make claims without offering proof.

I’m outsourcing this to a history book.  The first edition came out in 1973; I’m quoting the second, from 1989. Either way, this stuff was written before the poisoned partisanship brought out by Newt Gingrich, when there was only one set of facts for everyone. Nowadays, there’s the actual set, and then there’s the set claimed by conservatives, in which tax cuts pay for themselves and stimulate economic growth, the economy has gotten worse under Obama, and we can drill our way to energy independence. More on some of those at a later date.

The Shaping of Modern America: 1877-1920                     2nd Edition

by Vincent DeSantis     Harlan Davidson, Wheeling IL, 1973 & 1989

Page 12…Just as Rockefeller had cornered the refining market, so Andrew Carnegie captured much of the steel market… …From then on, led the field in the steel industry. He took bought out and took into his business Henry Clay Frick, who in the [1870s] had gained control of most of the coke ovens around Pittsburgh. Together they created a great vertical combine of coal fields, coke ovens, limestone deposits, iron mined, ore ships, and railroads…. Page 13…After Standard Oil Company set the trust pattern in 1879 other business enterprises of this form soon appeared.  Before long most Americans were referring to all large corporations as trusts, a word that soon became loosely synonymous in the public mind with monopoly. Many important industries ceased to be competitive and in addition to steel, oil, and railroads similar combinations were built by equally forceful and ambitious entrepreneurs in other fields. [The list of such megalithic companies included t]he McCormick Harvester Company…American Tobacco Company…American Sugar Refining Company…while Philip D Armour and Gustavus Swift dominated the meat-packing business… Page 14….As the American people watched the proliferating of trusts and millionaires, many became convinced that something had to be done to restore effective competition. There arose a popular outcry against monopolies….William W. Cook, an eminent corporation lawyer in New York, made a very sharp attack on monopolies in a volume on Trusts (1888) when he wrote:               (quoting Cook:)….. It is currently reported and believed that the “Trust” monopolies have drawn within their grasp not only kerosene oil and cotton-seed oil, but sugar, oatmeal, starch, white corn meal, straw, paper,… whiskey. rubber, steel,….wrought iron, pipes, iron nuts, stoves, lead, copper, envelopes, paper bags, paving pitch, cordage, coke, reaping and binding and mowing machines, plows, glass, and water works. And the list is growing day by day… [ End cite ] I hope everyone finds this both informative and convincing. *Note: in comments on another thread, I posited that a free market and an unregulated market are not the same thing. The problem with comments is that they rarely reflect a considered opinion, since they often get dashed off in the heat of the moment. I regret that I made that distinction.

 

Good news for local bunnies:

The Roger Williams Park Zoo has teamed up with biologists from around the state to help save the New England Cottontail Rabbit.

Back in September [WPRI] reported that the bunny was bordering on extinction . Researchers could only find one in the entire state.

Here’s the problem.

Why would a rabbit, the epitome of prolific breeding, be considered for protection under the Endangered Species Act? The New England cottontail is in just this predicament. Its population numbers are declining. As recently as 1960, New England cottontails were found east of the Hudson River in New York, across all of Connecticut, Rhode Island and Massachusetts, north to southern Vermont and New Hampshire, and into southern Maine. Today, this rabbit’s range has shrunk by about 86 percent. Its numbers are so greatly diminished that it can no longer be found in Vermont and has been reduced to only five smaller populations throughout its historic range.

The zoo plans to release the rabbits to the wild this spring. Here’s hoping they, uh, breed like rabbits.

Register now for The Poverty Institute‘s 5th Annual Budget Rhode Map Conference ”From Poverty to Progress“ to hear from leading experts about the economic vitality of Rhode Island and its residents.

Thursday, February 16, 2012

8:30 am: Registration and Continental Breakfast 9:00 am – 12:30 pm: Conference Rhodes on the Pawtuxet 60 Rhodes Place, Cranston, RI 02905

$35 per person

Register Now!

Featuring keynote speaker Jared Bernstein 

Senior Fellow, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities

Former Chief Economist and Economic Advisor to Vice President Biden and member of President Obama’s economic team.

Additional Presentations Include: 

A Skilled Workforce: Meeting the Demands of the Innovation Economy

• Julian L. Alssid, Executive Director, Workforce Strategies Center
• Rick Brooks, Executive Director, Governor’s Workforce Board
• Keith Stokes, Executive Director, RI Economic Development Corporation
• Adriana Dawson, State Director, RI Small Business Development Center

Rhode Island’s Human Service Budget: The Story Behind the Headlines

• Elena Nicolella, Rhode Island Medicaid Director
• Linda Katz, Policy Director, The Poverty Institute

 

PROVIDENCE, RI – Click on the image above to hear a short podcast with Dr. Angela Davis.  It is from a brief interview I conducted with her after a keynote address she gave on Monday, June 23, 2012 at Rhode Island School of Design.  More information about her talk is below; in the podcast/interview, I ask Davis more about the history of race relations within the labor movement.  She replied with an abbreviated timeline of when and why Blacks were excluded, but went on to discuss the benefits of integration in the Labor movement, citing one group in particular – the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (the ILWU).  A labor union that primarily represents workers on the West Coast, the ILWU accepted Black workers as members as early as the 1930′s.

Later in the century, explained Davis, Black workers within the ILWU helped introduce new “radical” ideas into the labor union movement, including during the global campaign to dismantle Apartheid South Africa.

The podcast is produced by me Reza Clifton (Reza Rites / Venus Sings / DJ Reza Wreckage).  Music by (and played with permission from) The Blest Energy Band ft. Tem Blessed & The Empress. The song, “The Struggle,” comes from their album ”Re-Energized,” which was released January 20, 2012. The podcast and article written below are also available on www.IsisStorm.com.

***

(PROVIDENCE, RI) – Imagination, collective struggle, and the inclusion of ordinary and disenfranchised people.  These were among the themes and lessons shared on Monday, January 23, 2012, when famed scholar, activist, and former prisoner (acquitted of charges including murder, kidnapping, and conspiracy), Dr. Angela Davis, spoke at RI School of Design. Part of a week of service dedicated to Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Davis’ keynote address covered the topic of “Building Communities of Activism.”

Her talk included a discussion of King’s belief in collective action despite the memorializing of him as the face of the Civil Rights Movement; an examination of the New Deal from the perspective of the protests and direct actions that prompted the policies that emerged after the 1930′s era Depression; and an analysis of the “prison abolition movement” as an important part of the worldwide struggle for social justice, workers rights, and economic equality.

Davis also talked about and periodically referenced the Occupy (Wall Street) Movement throughout her talk, including the site here in Providence.  At times, she was thoughtfully critical about what many have documented as the movement’s absence or sparsity of space for discussions about race, class, and the “intersectionality” of these and other issues in the Occupy encampments, as well as concerns associating the US occupy movements with traditional American occupation narratives of Native lands, Puerto Rico, Iraq, and other sites associated with the rise (and ills) of “global capitalism.”  Davis displayed this same kind of caring admonition in reference to the exclusion of prison labor union issues in spaces created by the “free union movement,” expressing pride in the advancements but honesty in the historical tendency to leave certain groups out (ie. women, people of color, and prisoners).

Overall, though, Davis expressed an unbridled show of support and enthusiasm for Occupy activities (and the labor movement), citing Occupy as the main reason why a climate exists again in this country for discussions on economic inequalities and the failures of capitalism.  Notably, she also inserted occupy in her speech, reframing the syntax and lexicons usually used in historical texts about Civil Rights and Worker movements, where terms and phrases like “sit-ins” and “street demonstrations” became sites or examples of people who “occupied” spaces.

Conscious of her audience and the origins of the invitation – RISD, an art school – and in response to a question from a student, Davis encouraged artists to continue making their art.  Harkening back to the ordinary people who joined because of their collective abilities to imagine a world without segregation, racism, jails, etc. Davis says that artists are in the practice of imagining the impossible, and that alone is a gift to the world – and contribution to the movement.

Some number of us will be gathering at 8pm on Wednesday at the Wild Colonial in Providence. (And we’re looking for new folks to help organize Drinking Liberally — if you’re interested, please come by and let us know.)